CHIME Weighs In on ONC Federal HIT Strategic Plan

• Patient-accessed and patient-added health information. CHIME wants to see more alignment among HHS regulations affecting the timeliness of patient access to information. In its letter the executive organization notes that the timeliness standard under the HIPAA provisions "is significantly different from that under the electronic health record meaningful use regulations recently adopted by HHS (30 days for information maintained onsite vs. three business days). CHIME considers the three business day standard unreasonable and is also troubled by the failure to adopt more consistent timeliness standards across HHS regulations."
• EHR evolution. While CHIME supports the development of EHR capabilities, it suggests "caution should be exercised when expecting EHRs to do too much, too fast – such as accommodate multiple languages and disabilities."

"Our comments touch on a number of issues and challenges we're facing while working with ONC to advance and standardize the adoption of health information technology and health information exchange," Indranil "Neal" Ganguly, vice president and CIO of CentraState Healthcare System and a member of CHIME's policy steering committee explained in a statement. "From data safety and integrity to continued evolution in EHR usability, hospital CIOs are at the forefront of this transformation, and we are pleased to offer guidance on how ONC can move forward.

The deadline for public comments has been to May 6.

See Also:
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ONC: Time to 'double down' on putting patients first